Hilde Smets

• 30 years of experience in ICT Services, Financial Services and Public Sector
• Vast experience in several IT domains as M and C level manager
• Experienced manager of large teams
• PCC Certified Coach

Unique Hilde

Self-development runs like a golden thread through Hilde's personal life. She masters different types of dance, like Argentinian tango and salsa; she is an apprentice-painter at the Academy of Arts and took four years of Spanish classes.

The unread books in her library keep stacking up to the point that she will need a couple of years to be able to read all of them. 'Content' by Els Deboutte and Rilla Lysens and 'Taming my Gremlin' by Rick Carson currently lie on her nightstand. When asked about the books that stuck, Hilde mentions 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Covey, Lencioni's 'The five dysfunctions of a team,' and 'Who Moved My Cheese' by Johnson .

In 2010, Hilde enrolled for an NLP training, fuelling her desire to become a professional coach. Adding coaching techniques to sharing her experience and voicing her opinion gives more depth to mentoring and is more rewarding for mentee and mentor, Hilde states.

Heroism is often unhealthy because heroes can sometimes fall off their pedestal. Hilde relates more to the message than to the person. And besides, one's hero today might not be one's hero tomorrow.

Hilde's motto is 'Trust the process': take the steps, even if they seem to lead to nothing, and see what happens. Not surprisingly, "Everything does not have to be perfect, and failure is allowed" is the powerful advice she'd give her younger self. Young Hilde could have benefitted from understanding that changing ideas is permitted and from following her gut feeling. Hilde's life would have taken other turns if she had dared to ask for help from a mentor instead of trying to do it all herself. Not having grabbed the opportunity to gain international experience, she still regrets.

The lessons life has taught Hilde, her leadership experience, her coaching skills, her ethical compass, and her genuine desire to help others constitute a strong mentor profile.